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	Innocent until Proven Guilty Remains a Cornerstone of Our Justice System By Joe Belanger London Free Press April 4, 2009 http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Opinion/Columnists/Belanger_Joe/2009/04/04/9001541-sun.html The voice at the other end of the telephone was familiar, but the message that voice delivered was so foreign it got my attention, real quick. The caller was John Swales, one of the three brothers sexually abused by a priest when they were boys, who successfully sued the London Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church for the damage to their lives inflicted by Rev. Barry Glendinning. Swales has built a career on his experiences as a victim of sexual abuse and the legal system, working as an adviser to law firms representing sexual abuse victims, especially men, and unofficially providing counselling and advocacy for victims. It's hard not to be impressed with the careful, reasoned opinions he delivers when he's got something to say. Yeah, there's still the passion about the issue, but little anger until this call shortly after Swales read the Free Press story about the alleged jail cell beating of London teacher Greg Stewart who is accused of sexually assaulting a student. Stewart appeared in court Monday for a bail hearing, his face bruised and swollen, blood on his skin and clothes after allegedly being beaten by another prisoner in the courthouse holding cells. "We have a duty of care, whether you loathe or like someone, when they're in custody," Swales said. "We have a responsibility to keep them safe. He's been arbitrarily sentenced to a beating. I think we need to find him guilty first. Right now, he's innocent." Swales is absolutely right and someone has some explaining to do. Under Canadian law and those of most other democracies, an accused is assumed innocent until proven guilty. That's especially true when you consider it's not unusual to find an accused person innocent. That innocent people are allegedly being beaten in our jail cells while they await trial is a travesty and a frightening issue. It could happen to you, me or anyone. Any of us could be falsely accused and find ourselves in the justice system, in a jail cell or holding cell with hardened criminals who think it their duty and delight to beat people accused of crimes society may consider heinous. The fact some criminals are delivered justice twice, first by the courts then by inmates at a prison, is not exactly a secret. That's why some criminals are housed in special facilities that keep them segregated from the general prison population. Pedophiles and convicted murderers like Clifford Olson and Paul Bernardo are good examples. Some people choose to ignore or feel indifferent about attacks on prison inmates. But jails where the innocent accused are held as they await trial, such as the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, and the holding cells in courthouses are not prisons. They are relatively confined spaces. One would think there would be careful monitoring of these cells to protect people from being attacked. What's particularly frightening, if the allegations are true, is that someone could be beaten in a building that houses our courts, our judges, lawyers, hundreds of workers, the public and, yes, innocent people who've been accused of crimes. How difficult can it be to protect people in custody in the bowels of a courthouse? It's not the same as a rambling penitentiary facility. It's small and confined. If you're attacked in a jail cell, it's not as if you have a way to escape. What that tells me is there is a seriously flawed security system at the courthouse, a system that needs to be reviewed and overhauled. Just imagine if someone waiting for trial is beaten to death? No doubt someone would be held accountable, tried and, perhaps, convicted and punished. But is that justice? I don't think so. The victim never got their day in court and would have been sentenced to death in a country that doesn't allow capital punishment. Also, as long as the system and society allows this situation to continue, we're all accomplices before, during and after the fact. If society knows there's a problem with our justice system and ignores it, we share the guilt. Until it's fixed, we've all got blood on our hands.
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